Mailing machine



Nov. 4 19240 H. c. WING ET AL MAILING MACHINE Filed Oct. 29 1919 3 Sheets-Shea; l

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H. C.'WING ET AL MAILQING MACHINE Filed Oct. 29 1919 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 HENRVE.W1N:+- HnwARnERA/mq Nov. 4 1924.

' H. C. WING ET AL MAILING MACHINE 1919 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 29.

INVLNTORS HENRY EWIN H U ARUEMANL ATTORHLY Patented Nov. 4, 1924.

UNITED STATES han ATENT OFFICE.

HENRY C. WING- AND HOWARD E. WING, OF GREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAILING MACHINE.

Application filed October 29, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that HENRY C. l/VING and HOWARD E. WING, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Greenfield, in the county of Franklin and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mailing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in addressing machines for addressing wrappers for magazines, newspapers and other publications and the leading object of the invention is to provide a frame of great strength and of very light'metal which will enable a girl or other worker to work more rapidly and with less fatigue and insure the etficient and durable operation of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to pro Vide an adjustable and detachable arm for operating the swinging knife.

Another object of the invention is to provide a frame of light metal which is alumi num which can be cast in one piece and in which hardened bearings can be fixed in proper bearing relation while the frame is being cast.

Another object of the invention is to provide a frame of aluminum or other like metal with a backing plate for the fixed knife which can be cast with the frame so as to form an integral part thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pair of aluminum feed rollers for feeding the address tape to the forward end of the machine and to provide a high speed gearing whereby the feed rollers will be caused to propel the tape at an accelerated speed.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a machine with an adjustable tapeguide, whereby tapes of various widths can be guided over the pasting roller to the forward end of the machine.

With the above and other objects in view this invention relates to certain new and useful constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts, clearly described in the following specification and fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a. side elevation of the improved machine showing the high speed gearing.

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a machine forwardly of the machine.

Serial No. $3 1,327.

showing the means for varying the tension on the spring for returning the movable knife to its initial position.

Figure 4 is a front elevation with the movable knife broken off to expose the feedrolls.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of the adjustable and detachable arm for operating the movable knife.

Figure 6 is a. transverse sectional view on an enlarged scale, showing the inset b a-cking plate for the fixed knife.

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view of one of the inset bearings.

Figure 8 is a detail perspective view showing the: aluminum feed rollers and the frame in which the same are mounted.

Figure 9 is a detail perspective view of the paste box and pasting roller.

Figure 10 is a top plan view of the adjustable pasting guide.

Figure 11 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 12 is a detail sectional view taken on line 12 of Figure 10.

Figure 13 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 13 of Figure 9.

Fig. 14 is a detail sectional view of a strip guide.

Figure 15 is another detail sectional view of one of the inset bearings.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of the strip guide.

Referring to the accompanying drawings illustrating the practical embodiment of the invention 5 designates the frame of the machine, which is preferably composed of a tough malleable aluminum'alloy of special composition particularly designed to pro vide a light and unbreakable and durable frame. This frame consists of base runners 6 and 7 which are connected to each other by the transverse bars 8 and 9. The runner members 6 and 7 are of L shaped construction. At the rear end of the runner members the upright members 10 and 11 extend and these members are preferably disposed at a slight incline from the vertical and are connected to each other at their upper ends by the cross bar 12 which is formed with an upstanding lug 13. Rearwardly of the forward end of the frame the upright members 1% and 15 extend and these members are likewise inclined slightly from the vertical, the inclination in both cases being The upper portions of the upright members 14 and 15 are no u! connected to each other by a cross bar 16 which is formed with a rearwardly disposed upstanding lug 17. The handle 18 is connected at its rear end to the lug 13 by the screw 19 and at its forward end to the lug 17 by the screw 20. By the removal of these screws the handle may be detached. This handle is supported on the upright members 10 and 11 and 14 and 15 at a slight incline from horizontal, being inclined downwardly and forwardly.

At the forward end of the frame a backing plate 21 is cast in place, the ends of said backing plate 21 and 21 projecting through the sides of the frame. A hardened steel knife member 22 is secured against the backing plate 21 by means of the screws 23, which are adjustable in transverse slots 24, formed in the backing member and in the adjacent portion of the frame.

The side member 7 is equipped with a bearing arm 25 located at the forward end thereof and extending laterally thereof and a second bearing arm 26 rearwardly spaced therefrom. A shaft 27 extends through the bearing arms 25 and 26 .and forwardly of the arm 25. On the forward end of this shaft the knife holding plate or frame 28 is mounted, said plate or frame being equipped with a lateral arm 29 formed with a bearing 30 through which the shaft 27 ex tends. The arm 29 extends laterally of the shaft and is engaged by an adjustable screw 31 threaded on an arm 32 which is retained in its adjusted position by means of a set screw 33 threaded in a'bifurcated end portion 33 of the arm 32. The screw 31 provides an adjustable stop for the arm 27. The knife carrying frame or plate 28 is maintained under tension by means of a coil spring 34 mounted upon a post having a milled head 35. The .post extends through the bearing 30 and into the shaft 27, the for ward end of which is hollowed out to receive the screw 36 which is adapted to retain the post in adjusted position.

The head of the post is formed with a small opening 37 which receives one end of the spring 34 and the other end of the spring engages a shoulder 38 formed on the arm 29. The arm 29 is mounted to rock on the shaft 27 and is maintained in contact with the adjustable stop '31 by means of the spring 34. The frame or plate 28 carries a knife blade 39 which is secured thereto by means of screws 40 adjustable in slots 41 formed in said plate or frame, so that the relation of the blade 39 to the blade 22 may be varied .as required. 1 7

An arm 42 is rigidly mounted upon the shaft 27 between the bearings 25 and 26 by means of a set screw 43 and this arm projects laterally and outwardly of the shaft 27 to engage another arm 44 which is mounted on the arm 45 by means of the lock nuts 46 and 47. By loosening the nuts 46 and 47 the arm 44, which is round in shape can be adjusted relative to the arm 42 soas to present a new contacting surface. The arm 45 is a lateral extension of the operating member or plate 48 which is mounted upon a transverse shaft 49 which extends through bearings 50 formed in the side members 6 and 7 of the frame 5. The bearings 50 formed in said side members are cast in place when the frame is made so that a proper bearing surface will be presented to the shaft 49. One end of said shaft is secured against displacement by a screw 51 and the opposite end is secured against dis placement by a nut 52, which is clamped against the side of the bearing arm of the plate 49. V

The rear end of the shaft 27 is provided with a head 52 which engages a tapered bearing 53 formed on the adjustable screw 54 which is threaded through the arm "55 formed on the side of the frame. The adjustment of the screw 54 is fixed in plaoeby means of a set screw 56 threaded in the arm 55, which is bifurcated similarly to the arm 32, as will be readily understood. The shaft 27 is equipped with a coil spring 57, one end of which engages the head 52 and the other end of which engages a stop lug 58 formed on the side of the frame. The spring 57 functions to return the shaft 27 and the movable knife to their initial positions and by reason of the engagement of the arm 42 against the bottom of the frame the arm 44 will engage the arm 42 and rock the shaft 27 in its bearings and thus swing the movable knife blade 39 against the fixed knife blade '22.

A paste or adhesive container 59 in the form of a metal or other box is arranged within the frame and in this paste box a pasting roller 60 is mounted to rotate. The paste box is formed with a downwardly inclined top wall 61 which is provided with laterally spaced and downwardly inclined guides 62 and 63. An adjustable strip or tape guide is detachably mounted on the paste or adhesive box 59, this adjustable strip or tape guide being provided with a base plate 64 which is adapted to slide under the retainingflanges or -guides62 and 63. On this base plate 64 a pair of relatively movable strip or t-apeed-ge engaging members 65 and 66 are slidably mounted, each of said members havingretaining flanges 67 formed on the opposite ends thereof adapted to have sliding engagement with the ends of the base plate. The upper end portion of the base plate 64 is disposed at an angle at 68 so as to form. a stop and limit the downward movement of the adjustable guide on the adhesive or paste box, said angular portion 68 being adapted to engage the top of the paste container and the flanges 67 having sliding engagement therewith being also disposed in angular relation to the members and 66. The member 65 is formed with an overlying flange 65 which is provided with upturned ends 65 and 65 and the member 66 is provided with a similar overlying flange 66 the ends of which are upturned at 66 and 66, thus providing projections for placing the adjustable guide in position and for affecting its easy removal. The tape or strip carrying the addresses is wound upon a shaft 69 j ournaled in the rear end of the frame and equipped with a winding crank 70. The strip is taken from the roll 71 on said shaft and passed under the overlying flanges 65 and 66 and then over the pasting roller 60 and then over the fixed knife blade 22.

The motion of the strip to the forward end of the machine is controlled by a high speed drive which includes the forwardly located feed rollers 72 and 78. Both theserollers are made of aluminum and the lower roller 7 3 is formed with a series of integral circular shoulders or flanges 74 which are spaced from each other, while the upper roller 7 2 is formed with a series of longitudinal grooves. The lower roller 7 8 is mounted on a shaft 75, one end of which has a limited vertical movement in a slot 7 6 formed in the wing 7 7 of the U shaped frame 78 while the other end of the shaft carries a pinion gear 79 which is in constant mesh with the pinion gear 80 mounted on the shaft 81 of the upper roller 72. The upper pinion gear 80 is engaged by a relatively large gear wheel 82 journaled on the screw stub shaft 83 mounted upon the arm 84. The gear wheel 82 is engaged by a second relatively large gear wheel 85 mounted upon the shaft 86 which is supported on the upstanding bearing arms 14 and 15 of the frame 5. The shaft 86 has fixed thereto a thumb operated roller 87 which is disposed slightly forwardly of the forward end of the handle 18 so that the operator can propel said roller by a rearward movement of the thumb and thus impart motion to the rollers 72 and 73 to propel the address strip forwardly.

The paper strip passes under a transverse rod 88 located forwardly of the feed rollers and over upstanding lugs 89 designed to limit the play of the strip under the bar 88. The lower roller 73 is held under ten sion against the upper roller 72 by means of a coil spring 90 which is mounted upon a rod 91 fixed to the side wings of the frame 78, one end of said spring engaging the frame and the other end engaging a groove portion of the roller 73 at 91 so as to hold the roller 73 in frictional contact with the roller 72-.

The shaft 86 works in bearings 1.4 and 15 which are cast with the frame.

The entire machine is considerably lighter than the machines which have preceded it and the act-ion of advancing the strip is much faster, so that a girl or other worker can address more wrappers or publications or other matter than was possible with the old machine. The aluminum frame is so constructed that the upright arms are disposed at an angle to the base of the machine but parallel to the line of force transmitted from the handle to the frame so that tendency to fracture is reduced to a minimum. The high speed gearing enables the operator to advance the address strip with less thumb movement than in the case of the former machine so that fatigue is avoided and constant rapid work maintained. The aluminum rollers for feeding the strip to the cutters have been found by repeated tests to be greatly superior to those rollers previously used as they have better frictional engagement with the paper under all weather and working conditions and slippage is practically eliminated. The detachable and adjustable contact arm 44 permits of the replacement of a worn surface or of a worn arm or by varying the diameter of the arm the timing of the engagement of the arm 44 with the arm 42 may be varied. The adjustable strip guide permits of the use of various strips in the same machine, without changing the feed rollers or paste box, and this in turn results in the saving of paper. On the whole the machine is a distinct mechanical and practi cal advance over the former machines.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. An addressing machine having a frame, a fixed cutter member on said frame, a swinging cutter member on said frame, means for operating said cutter member con sisting of a member hinged to said frame and provided with a laterally extending arm, a. second arm adjustable and detachably secured to said first arm whereby its relation may be varied or the same may be replaced, and a third arm associated with the movable cutter member adapted to be engaged by said second arm.

2. The combination with an addressing machine having a paste box, of a paste applying member therein, and guides slidably mounted on the box to move toward and away! from each other to receive various widths of strips to be pasted, each of said guides having an overlapping portion to overlie the strip engaged.

Signed by us at Greenfield, Massachusetts.

HENRY C. WVING. HOWARD E. WING. 

